PowerPC Macs and iPhone 5 Sync and Music

There is no way to direct sync our PowerPC Macs to iCloud. There are alternatives, one of which is Frux, mentioned here before.

I'm going to present my method. If it works for you, great, if not or this has been covered already then just ignore this I guess.

Anyway, I want my contacts/calendars synced. This never used to be a problem with my WinMo phone because I have Eltima SyncMate. I tried getting it to work with my iPhone 5, but the version for PowerPC doesn't support the i5.

I have an account with Frux, but I didn't really care to mess with Frux. I'm not saying it's bad, nor good, just that I don't really use Frux.

I do have a Google account though and so I decided to use that. I've used Google in the past, but it never was really important. Now I'm using it for my contacts and calendar. There is a way to sync it from your Mac to your iPhone.

Google Contacts/Calendars to AddressBook/iCal
*Note that I only use one calendar and my contacts are all in one group
1. Go to iCloud.com and export all your Contacts.
2 (optional). Move all events to one calendar.
3. Export your calendar(s)
4. Open AddressBook and import contacts
5. Connect AddressBook to your Google account.
*If you only intend to sync iCal to Google then simply…
6. Open iCal and add your Google account to iCal and the Google Calendar
7. Import the iCloud calendar(s) and then switch them to the Google Calendar
*Note that I do not believe it's possible to sync from Google to iCal. It's a one way sync from iCal to Google. There is a way around this however.

Getting iCal to sync to Google
*If you intend to sync to another app or want two way syncing
1. Do NOT add your Google account to iCal.
2. Download Calgoo Connect.
3. Open Calgoo Connect and sync your iCal Calendar(s) to your Google Calendar(s)
4. You have to leave Calgoo Connect running or open and close it manually if/when you want to sync.
*I am not sure if you need an account. I made one when I downloaded this app in 2008 and it apparently was still valid (the app is working for me). But I have no idea if you can create a new one or not.

Getting AddressBook to sync to Google
*Note that apparently, despite linking AddressBook to your Google account there is no immediate sync with Google. It's not implemented at least in OSX 10.5.8 Leopard. Fortunately, MacRumors came to the rescue. There is a Google private framework that forces a sync between AddressBook and Google.
Here's what I did:
1. At the link above is a terminal command to force the sync. Note that you must have AddressBook linked to Google or there will be an error. I copied the terminal command to AppleScript Editor and saved it as an Application Bundle. Here's my script: 2. I added the terminal command as a daemon to Lingon. Lingon allows you to add little things that you want the system to run or do whenever some even occurs or on a timed schedule. In my case, I want GoogleSync to occur at login and every 4 hours. I set Lingon to execute this terminal command at those times.
3. I created the App bundle because I wanted to run this script when whenever I wanted without having to wait on Lingon. I use FastScripts and I assigned a shortcut to it. I also used Dock Dodger to let me call the script without seeing it appear in my dock. Just a simple CTRL+S (the shortcut I assigned with Fastscripts) and I get syncing.

Google Contacts/Calendars to iPhone
1. On your iPhone remove Calendars and Contacts from iCloud.
2. Delete the contacts and calendars or they will duplicate from Google.
3. Add Google for your Contacts and Calendar(s)

Connecting Entourage 2004/2008 to iCal and AddressBook
*As I mentioned, I don't use iCal and AddressBook. I prefer Entourage for all of that. So, it's a simple matter of going to Preferences>Sync Services and clicking the two boxes to sync with iCal and AddressBook.
*Note, delete any contacts/calendars out of Entourage first unless you want duplication.
I added Entourage last because I wanted to replace any information in it with the info from iCal and AddressBook. Entourage will give you a choice to merge, delete from iCal/AddressBook or delete from Entourage. If you merge or replace your info will be replicated up to Google and then to your iPhone. So be careful.

Important
If you use Entourage like I do then make sure your Google Calendar is titled Entourage. That's what Entourage names it and that's what it appears as in iCal when you enable MS Sync Services in Entourage Preferences. Don't turn on CalGoo Connect and connect to Google before you have Entourage synced to iCal.
I deleted all my calendars/contacts from Entourage 2008 first, checked the preferences boxes for syncing and then closed Entourage. That gave me the Entourage Calendar in iCal which I then transferred my iCloud calendar to. Then I connected Calgoo Connect.

When it's all said and done, I am synced from Entourage 2008 to my iPhone. As I have Entourage 2008 on two laptops I can change a contact or calendar event from either laptop or my iPhone and it will sync to the other devices.

Last note. There is also a Yahoo private framework so I assume that if you wanted to sync contacts between Yahoo and AddressBook you could use that in the terminal command. No idea about syncing a Yahoo calendar though.

This all may be confusing so, if you have questions I will try to answer them. Note that I did have problems (figuring this out was not easy) and I had to wipe contacts and calendars a few times from the apps involved. Got it working nice now though.

iTunes
I use the Google Music Manager to upload my iTunes library to Google Music (or Play or whatever they call it now). And I use gMusic to play my library on my i5. This is really cool because it means I have my entire iTunes library at hand and gMusic works on the lockscreen. So I get the benefit of my iTunes library on my iPhone without using an space on my i5. There are other Google Music apps in the iTunes store though so take a look if you want something other than gMusic.

-jc said:

Some nice tips there, but I'm just wondering...is there any reason you're clinging onto your PowerBook G4s instead of upgrading?

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Uhm…that's a whole other can of worms. Let's just say I appreciate the design of the PowerPC Macs and enjoy working on them and pushing them to their limits. All of the above was a challenge to me and while it's not perfect my solution gives me what I want.

The second reason of course would be $$$$$$. There's zero way I could ever afford a brand new Mac, short of someone gifting one to me.

That said, part of my refund this year is going to an Intel Mac because I need one. However, it's going to be the last of the Aluminum MBP 17" models. If I have to go Intel, I can at least stay as close to the AlBook form factor as I can.

wobegong said:

This seems hellishly more complicated than Fruux, i set up Fruux a long time ago syncing between (now) PPC Mac, Intel Mac, Linux desktop and Android phone and a Nokia (used to be an iPhone) and don't even think about it but I guess if it absolutely has to be with Google this is a useful way to achieve that.

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Yeah, it's complex and I realize there are other solutions, but it's a way of getting Entourage 2008 to sync up contacts and calendars between two Macs and an iPhone.

There are a lot of people out there who have invested a lot in Google contacts and apps and all that. If any of them are using PowerPC Macs then this is a way to sync up iCal and AddressBook.

I don't particularly care for Google myself but I'm far more invested in it than I am in Fruux. However, if I weren't using Entourage I'd probably just have gone with Fruux over Google, especially if I could sync both ways.

But I prefer Entourage so I need a common denominator between Entourage and everything else. I suppose I could have used Fruux as the intermediary or even Yahoo, but like I said, I have more invested in Google so I went that route.

Unfortunately, it's complex here because of Apple. Apple allows you to "sync" AddressBook to Google but does not provide the engine to do it. It takes a terminal command. And you can add a Google account to iCal, but it's only one way.

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MisterKeeks said:

Were you using the specially compiled PowerPC version or just the last compatible one. They recompiled 3.6 for PowerPC.

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I'm not sure. I know I recently downloaded it again. I'll have to check. The recompiled version works with the iPhone 5?

wobegong said:

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I try to keep as little on Google as possible but I often get the feeling I'm in the minority so this should be a useful guide.

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Same here. I don't really care to have my calendars and contacts on Google. I've even closed down my multiple accounts to just one and ditched Google+ months ago.

To be honest, I'm using this as a temporary situation until I get my Intel Mac with a portion of our tax refund. I'll be able to fully switch to iCloud at that point. But right now, I have multiple email accounts split between Entourage on two different Macs and my iPhone. Keeping the contacts and calendar synced between all three just makes things so much easier. I use the program at work (same program) and I'm just more comfortable in it. Never got comfortable with Apple Mail and for a while there it did not support Microsoft Exchange (which we use at work).

Getting Entourage to work with iCloud on an Intel Mac will be my next challenge (if possible).

Jethryn Freyman said:

I kinda gave up.

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Whatever works for you. I was just presenting this as a way to link Entourage to Google and then on to your i5.

When I get my Intel Mac, I'll switch back to iCloud. I have absolutely NOTHING of importance in any of my calendars/contacts that I could not afford to lose/replace.

Jethryn Freyman said:

I sync calendars and contacts with iCloud. All stored on iCloud. Accessed on my iPhone 5 with Week Cal and Apple's Contacts, on my G5 via the iCloud website [which I turned into a .app which performs much better and actual works with Fluid 0.9.6], and on my Intel Snow Leopard laptop, iCloud app again.

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Yeah, I have the Fluid app for iCloud as well. But it means I have to open it and mess around in there. I leave Entourage open all the time. It's right there. Now that this is set up, I don't have to open iCal or AddressBook. My i5 contacts and calendars immediately update to Google and it's all passed down (or up) to my Macs.

Jethryn Freyman said:

Backup is done wirelessly to iCloud. Apps can save documents on iCloud and their data backed up to it as well, though some I choose not to, mostly for privacy reasons.

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My i5 also backs up to iCloud. I'm not using iTunes except to transfer items (such as ringtones, etc) and for that I have to use my PC. I have excluded certain apps on my iPhone 5 from backing up to iCloud but that's only because they seem to take up large amounts of data that I don't care if I lose or not.

Jethryn Freyman said:

Hate the concept of being forced to "sync" music and photos and videos and stuff. I like oldschool 1990's file management, lolz. I use EZMP3Pro for music [about $2, also has a free version which doesn't appear to have any less features, works with the lock screen]. I don't store photos on my phone, personal preference, I just use it as a camera. Videos, I use FlexPlayer [can't remember if it was free or just really cheap]. Sound recording, I use Recorder Pro [about $2, also has Recorder Free which is nearly as good, just a couple less options.]

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I hear you. But I'm a little different. I like the idea of syncing because it appeals to my lazy mind. But I don't like keeping music on my iPhone. My iPhone is not a music player, although it can play music. It's a phone. I have an 8GB iPod for music. But I compromised because, what I really don't care for is storing the music on the iPhone. So gMusic works for me that way.

I store my photos on my phones. Most of my photo taking is little junk stuff that I don't care is lost, screen caps, etc. Important photos I will pull off on to my hard drive, or now as I've started to do, iPhoto. I have an app that will transfer my i5 photos direct to iPhoto.

Apple, in it's infinite wisdom decided that it would store video in the camera roll. Well, first off I don't care for that because video is not photos (although to be technical it's a series of photos). It should be stored in the Videos app, but it's not. So, if I take a video (which I don't do much of), I also take the hard route of getting it off the phone and then back on to the phone as an actual Video using iTunes. Right now, my Honeymooner's library of about 18GB far outstrips the pittance of home video I've taken (and all of those are from my WinMo phone).

Jethryn Freyman said:

I don't back up EZMP3Pro to iCloud as I have about 500MB of music, and a crap data cap and iCloud is slow enough as it is. Also don't back up my Photo Roll, size reasons again, or Recorder Pro or Genius Scan data [in case of person information being uploaded to Apple's iCloud.]

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All my music is in my iTunes library and on Google. I don't purchase music from the iTunes store so all of it has been MP3s I've found or the ripping of my CD library. If I like a band or group, I go buy their CD because I like to physically have something. I'll then rip it in to iTunes. That goes right up to Google.

I'm not worried about my internet connection fortunately. I'm on the second highest tier for Cox and I think the limit is something like 20GB per month or so. I've never hit it and I've never heard anything from them. Even one month when I knew I'd blown well past 9GBs (downloads). I do backup my photo roll, but if I were to lost it, it wouldn't be a big deal. As I mentioned before, all the important pics I pull off my phone.

I don't keep important documents on my phone. I use my Macs for that and all that stuff is kept on Dropbox (I have four Dropbox accounts and yes, it's possible to run four instances of Dropbox (each with a different account) at once without linking/unlinking). If any of my Mac hard drives go south then at least the info is safe on Dropbox.

Jethryn Freyman said:

On either my G5 or Intel machines I use PhoneView [$15] to add, remove, and organise stuff for my apps. Works on PPC Leopard on my G5 with the Lightning cable just fine.

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Works just fine for me as well. But as I don't bring over documents for any of my apps, it's a PITA to make your iPhone see new pictures you've put in via PhoneView and because your iPhone won't recognize video in the Video app when you copy it over via PhoneView, I don't use PhoneView all that much. I don't use my iPhone for important documents so while PhoneView is great, it just doesn't get used by me. There are also, other far easier methods to get photos to my iPhone and that's usually the ONLY thing I am ever trying to transfer to my iPhone. I use Dropbox for that, super easy as Dropbox is always running my each of my Macs and I have the app on my Iphone.

Jethryn Freyman said:

I had a lot of private calendars and old ones not on iCloud, I've got them all individually exported from iCal on my G5 and have them in safekeeping for later. You can manually export iCloud calendars into standard calendar/iCal/Calendar app format [google the instructions, it's easy], which I eventually get a 10.8+ Mac, I'll be combining them all together on it's Calendar application. Copy over my contact with either MCBackup [free phone app] or PhoneView.

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The only old calendar I had in iCal was a work one that reminded me that on Thursdays we print the Glendale Star and on Fridays we print the Peoria Times. I've been at that job for nine years and if I can't remember what prints on what day by now my boss needs to find somebody else. My new calendar has important items such as when Steve Jobs died, when Audrey Meadows was born, and doctor's appointments. So, both ways it does not really matter if I lose the calendar (I tossed the old one).

Using the Fluid iCloud app was how I got my calendar off my iPhone and in to iCal. As I mentioned a post or two back, this is all temporary. Once I have an Intel Mac I can migrate all this junk back to iCloud.

Jethryn Freyman said:

Only ever use the Music app from Apple when I'm at home and want to use Home Sharing run from my G5. Still bloody slow, and can't play anything AIFF format [my whole wireless network is a slow mess. Long live Ethernet.]

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I hate the Music app. I much prefer iTunes on my Mac and I don't care to use my iPhone as an iPod, except as I've set it up with gMusic and Google. But I am usually only doing that in the car going from place to place. Sometimes the radio stations here in PHX suck and I have a 15 min drive to/from work. I'd rather listen to my music than be changing channels constantly from work to home or home to work. But when I am ready to listen to music, I pull out my laptop and use iTunes. If I'm really in a music listening mood I hook the laptop up to the stereo. I'll then use my iPhone to remote control iTunes on my laptop (but usually from my 3GS which I keep at home for media purposes).

Long ago, I got everything I have converted from AIFF to MP3 and iTunes is set to rip to MP3. It was a real pain, there were a few times where I had to redo the entire library, but it was done a long, long time ago.

My wireless fortunately is just fine. I have a Linksys wireless router that serves as a WAP. It's plugged in to a 24port switch which is plugged into my 4 port wired router (which actually does all the DHCP) and then into my cable modem. I have a PC I installed MacDrive 8 on and it's sharing a Mac formated 435GB hard drive which I made two Mac formatted partitions on. Both my laptops are backing up to that shared drive on my PC via Time Machine wirelessly. I had to use Ethernet to get the first backup going because it was very large, but after that it handles the backups wirelessly just fine. As anything important has been pulled off my phone and placed on my Macs (and Dropbox) it's backed up.
P.S. I should note that there are other alternatives out there. SOHO Organizer is one. But for me it does not seem to sync with iCal or AddressBook which is what I need it to do so that Entourage updates. So, it ends up being a replacement for Entourage, which is not what I want.

SpanningSync will also sync iCal and AddressBook to Google (or iCloud, I think), but I'm not up to paying $65 for the app and then a subscription on top of it.

goMac said:

Can't you just manually enter the iCloud addresses on a PowerPC Mac? It's using the same sync technology as .Mac.

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No.

The version of iCal on Leopard doesn't have what the version of iCal in Snow Leopard has. I have the correct iCloud addresses (via SOHO Organizer) but iCal errors every time I enter it.

Same with AddressBook.

The MobileMe preference pane refuses to accept my email (@icloud.com or @me.com) and password, telling me there is a problem with the server.

I need Snow Leopard or better. Of course, I could get a copy of a SL iCal, but it wouldn't run on my Leopard Mac.

AmazingHenry said:

How do you "link Address Book to Google"? I thought that was what the command was for, but apparently you have to link it first? What? Really, really confused. Help is appreciated.

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Follow these instructions…

http://lifehacker.com/393855/enable-google-contact-sync-without-an-iphone-or-ipod-touch

That will allow the following to show in Address Book>Preferences…



Check the box for Google.

Note that so far I have not gotten the app to accept my account and password.

It's been so long since I've done this it's possible that it's not been working for years and I just didn't notice.

I do have the setting for less secure apps set to allow and iCal can login. So, not sure why Address Book can't.